Ecommerce store

The other main features are a live chat plugin that comes as a default, custom discount codes, and gift cards. The abandoned cart recovery feature and integrations with Facebook and Instagram are available with the higher-tier Plus plan. US customers can also benefit from a default integration with Amazon.

9 Best eCommerce Platforms

Sure, there are free platforms out there that you can use for building your online store. But, these also require some expertise and continuous management. This is something that’s taken care of by the paid eCommerce platforms.

The following platforms are best for beginners with little experience setting up or managing a webshop. These five providers offer solutions for small businesses and individuals for setting up their online stores fast. Almost everything is taken care of for you, so you won’t have to set up payment processors, deal with transactions, or even manually send out invoices.

1. Wix – The Best eCommerce Platform

+ No transaction fees
+ 500+ free eCommerce templates
+ Unlimited products and accounts
+ USPS shipping discounts
+ In-house payment platform
+ 24/7 support (phone/ticket)
+ Free domain for 1st year
+ 14-day money-back guarantee

Wix’s main direction is to give its customers a straightforward way of building a website or an online store. In fact, their platform powers over 700,000 businesses worldwide. Wix also provides hosting for your online store and their plans are quite cost-effective starting from $27/month with an annual subscription.

You get to choose from 500+ free mobile-optimized eCommerce themes and create your store in 90+ languages for a global reach. Starting from the cheapest plan, you can add unlimited physical products and accounts. However, subscription selling comes with a higher tier plan.

Wix’s eCommerce platform’s main features are abandoned cart recovery, customizable checkout page, instant purchase buttons, add to cart from a gallery, wishlists, loyalty programs, discount codes, and customer accounts. Furthermore, you get $300 worth of online ad credit and some useful online marketing tools. Wix also supports multi-channel sales through Facebook, Instagram, and eBay.

Payment Options

Wix offers payment integrations with 40+ providers, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square. They also have an in-house developed payment platform, Wix Payments, which you can use to accept credit/debit card payments and integrate with other payment providers. Starting from the Unlimited plan, you also get a multi-currency converter feature that lets you accept foreign currency and sell your products worldwide.

Online Store Management and Reports

Wix has a straightforward website and an online store builder. Furthermore, you can do all the store management, refunding, and tracking from Wix’s dashboard. Wix also has a mobile app, where you can add products, fulfill orders, track your inventory, get notifications, and more.

Wix supports both direct and drop shipping, which you can also manage through the dashboard. You can set up shipping rules, add custom shipping rates, and print shipping labels. A great perk is Wix’s partnership with USPS, which gives you discounted rates on shipping costs.

The analytics side is also packed with useful reports. You get access to Google analytics, customizable reports, top products’ reports, and business insights. The availability of different statistics depends again on the subscription plan you choose.

Customer Support

Wix has 24/7 customer support through a ticketing system and a callback function. Unfortunately, they don’t offer support over live chat, which is questionable by today’s standards. They do have an extensive knowledge base where you should find answers to most of your questions.

Pricing

Wix’s cheapest plan is rather basic. You miss many great features that can help your online store grow or make managing your shop more efficient. However, the upside is that the next tier plan isn’t that expensive, with only a $5 difference in the monthly expenses. We recommend going with the Business Unlimited plan for those reasons above.

2. Shopify – the Most Popular Platform

+ Same features across plans
+ Additional shipping discounts
+ Unlimited products
+ In-house payment platform
+ 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support
+ 14-day free trial

Shopify is a well-known eCommerce platform provider, with over one million stores, 2.1 million active users, and $155B+ worth of sold goods on its platform. Their plans start from $29/month. They have an in-house payment processing platform and substantial discounts on shipping rates.

GiveMeTap

Each water bottle sold by GiveMeTap provides a person in Ghana with clean drinking water for five years. Edwin Broni-Mensah founded GiveMeTap after having difficulty finding a water refill station in his homebase of London. Edwin built an app to showcase the eateries and establishments that offered free water refills to reduce the use of disposable bottled waters. With the dual commitment of reducing single-use plastic bottles and providing water to those in need, Give Me Tap has provided over 50,000 individuals with clean water for life and reduced about 45 million plastic bottles as of late 2019.

Authorship:

https://websitesetup.org/best-ecommerce-platform/
https://www.shopify.com/blog/shopify-stores